More than 200 workers and people of religious faith on October 23 raised their voices against the wartime legislation in front of the Diet Building.

In his policy speech in the extraordinary Diet session, Prime Minister Koizumi Jun'ichiro stated that he aims for an early enactment of the wartime bills. In order to prevent Koizumi from passing through the bills, 20 labor unions representing ground, marine, and air transport workers and dockers and 2 religious groups organized the action.

Speaking on behalf of the organizers, Yamamoto Hideo, vice-chair of the Japan Federation of Civil Aviation Worker's Union for Air Safety, said he is determined to take every effort to foil the wartime legislation.

Members of the Japanese Communist, Democratic, Social Democratic, and Okinawa Social Mass parties spoke in solidarity.

On the same day, representatives of the Liaison Council of Civil Aviation Workers' Unions made a request to their employers' organization, the Scheduled Airlines Association of Japan, to oppose the wartime bills.

The council has requested the association to struggle against the bills, which would mobilize air-related workers to U.S. wars if enacted. (end)